Machine for making wire-glass.



NO. 800,131. Y PATENTBD SB1=T.26,'1905`1.

A. J.' BALDWIN. MACHINE POR MAKING WINE GLASS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.1B, 1904.

331:] AM @ttor/wmp nl zo UNITED sTATEs IRATENT oEEIcE.

ARTHUR J. BALDWIN, oE EAST ORANGE, NEW JERsEY.

MACHINE Fon MAKING WIRE-GLASS.

Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented sept.. 2e, Iene.

Application filed October 18,1904. Serial No. 229,036.

T a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. BALDWIN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at East ratus for the manufacture of what is com.

mercially known as wire-glass or glass in the form of sheets with a wirefabric or netting embedded therein, and has for its object the provision of mechanism of more simple construction and capable of easier and more economical operation than Athat heretofore employed in this art.

My improved apparatusembodies, broadly, the principles of construction and operation of those used in the manufacture of wireglass and by means of which two layers of glass are simultaneously and progressively formed and incorporated with a wire fabricsuch, for instance, as the Appert apparatus shown in Patent No. 608,096, of July 26,

1898;. but in carrying out my invention I dispense with a bed or table as the surface upon 'which the composite plate is' formed in part or in whole and employ a system of revolving rolls between and by the operation of which the two layers of glass are simultaneously and progressively formed and successively associated with the wires or fabric. This apparatus I have illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a vertical crosssectional view of such parts as are necessary to a clear understanding of the improvement.

A designates a cylindrical roll or drumV whichI may be of relatively large diameter, mounted in suitable bearings and adapted to be rotated at a definite speed. B is a second roll, which may be of considerably smaller diameter, similarly mounted with the capability of rotation at the same peripheral speed as the first and mounted so that the space between the two will be equal to one layer or approximately one-half the thickness of the finished sheet whichthe apparatus is designed to produce. C is a third roll as near to roll B as practical conditions of operation willy permit and, for convenience, of somewhat larger diameter. It is mounted with relation to roll A so as to leave aspace between the two approximately twice as great as that between A and B-that is to say, equal to the thickness of the finished sheet-and suitable means are provided fordriving it with a peripheral speed equal to that of the other rolls.

In the drawing' I have indicated the usual means for imparting rotation to the several rolls by cog-wheels D on the shafts of the latter, which are shown in dotted lines.

Ofcourse in practice some well-known appliances forregulating or controlling the temperature of the rolls may be employed whenever this is found necessary or desirable.

In using this machine a suitable length of wire netting or fabric wound on a reel E is drawn down between the two rolls A and B, and a batch of molten or plastic glass is deposited above and between the rolls A and B and a second batch between A and C and all three rolls driven with substantially the same peripheral speed. By this means a layer of glass of the desired thickness is formed between the rolls A and B, into the surface of which the web of wire fabric is impressed. A second layer of glass is formed and applied on the opposite side of the fabric by the action of the rolls A and G and a composite plate thus formed which by reason ofthe conditions underwhich it is formed issues as a solid homogeneous sheet in perfect condition for annealing and which when cooled is free from checks and cracks. The sheet as it issues from the rolls A and Cv may be received on a transversely-moving'table F or on any other suitable device by which it may be conveniently transferred to the annealing-furnace. I have shown in the drawing the rolls so mounted that the sheet issues vertically from between them; but this is not essential.

An important advantage of the apparatus above described is manifestly the capability of producing sheets of wire-glass in any desired lengths without corresponding increase in expense. The use of long and -expensive rolling-tables is thus obviated, and the conltrol of the temperature of the surfaces with which-the molten glass comes in contact is Very greatly facilitated.

I am aware that it has been proposed to manufacture wire-glass by forming separately between rolls two layersof glass and to feed a wire fabric between them as they are brought together and compressed by the rolls into a solid sheet; but no means have ever been de- IOO vised by which such a process could be practically carried out for the manufacture of wireglass of commercial quality. The main reason for this is that the exposed surfaces of the layers of glass cool to such an extent in passingfrom the forming-rolls to the point of union with the wire fabric that the proper consolidation of the three elements cannot be effected, and the composite sheet is inevitably defective by reason of the presence therein of checks, cracks, and other imperfections. By the use of my improved apparatus, hovever, all the advantages of the table or bedplate machines are secured. The wire fabric is associated with one layer of glass while it is still in the molten state, a step which is essential to practical success, while at the same time the second layer is applied sufiiciently soon to produce a composite sheet of glass having the Wire fabric in its center. Thus While the operation of forming the two layers of glass and applying` them to opposite sides of the wire fabric are in a sense successive they are effected in such Way as to he substantially simultaneous in their effect upon the quickly-cooling glass, resulting,` in a practically homogeneous product. v

Having' new described my invention, what l claim is-a l. In an apparatus for manufacturing' wireglass, the combination of rolls for forming a layer of glass from a molten batch deposited above and between them, means for feedingl a wire fabric between said rolls whereby the fabric will be embedded in the surface of the layer, and rolls for receiving the wired layer and forming` a second layer from a molten batch upon the wired surface of the iirst layer, as set forth.

2. The combination in a wire-glass machine with a roll A of relatively large diameter, ol' a roll B separated therefrom by a space equal to the thickness of one layer, a roll C beneath the roll B and separated from roll A by a space equal to the thickness of the finished sheet, all of said rolls being1 adapted to be driven with the same peripheral speed, and means vfor feedingl a wire fabric between said rolls, as set forth.

ARTHUR J'. BALIVIN.

Yitnessesz M. LAWSON Drmi, S. S. DUNHAM. 

